Charge: Just free from prison, Des Moines abuser attacked again

A Des Moines man accused of viciously beating a woman just months after being released from prison is behind bars on a felony assault charge.

Roosevelt Reed served more than 12 years in prison for breaking a romantic partner’s skull with a brick. Fresh from prison, Reed, 49, is now accused of severely injuring another woman in another disturbing act of domestic violence.

King County prosecutors contend Reed broke multiple bones in his girlfriend’s face during a Sept. 5 attack. Confronted by police, Reed and the woman both initially claimed she’d been attacked at random.

Reed was released from state custody five months before the attack, Deputy Prosecutor Lakeysha Washington said in court documents. Reed, the prosecutor continued, has been subject to 69 warrants since 1999 and has previously been convicted of domestic violence on at least three occasions.

The day of the alleged attack, Reed attended a meeting with his probation officer where he learned authorities suspected he had been beating his girlfriend.

Hours later, Reed and the woman were arguing about those allegations when he pummeled the woman, Washington told the court. Reed then called 911 and claimed an unknown person broke into the home and attacked the woman.

“The victim was semi-conscience, could barely speak, and her eyes were purple and swollen shut,” the prosecutor continued, noting the woman later claimed she could not remember anything after Reed’s initial punch.

It was later determined the woman had sustained a broken nose and jaw, as well as a fractured eye socket. A month after the attack, she was still unable to open her right eye.

According to charging documents, the woman and Reed rekindled a decade-old relationship while Reed was serving a 13-year prison term for breaking another woman’s skull with a concrete brick.

The woman began visiting Reed in prison and allowed him to move into her Des Moines apartment when he was released into the community in December. He completed work release in April.

At 5 p.m. on Sept. 5, Des Moines police were called to their apartment following a report from Reed that the woman had been attacked by an unknown party, Detective Fred Gendreau told the court.

Officers arrived to find the woman severely dazed and unable to speak coherently. Her eyes were swollen shut and she was bleeding from the head.

According to charging documents, Reed claimed he was not in the house when the woman was attacked.

The following day, the woman backed Reed’s story by telling police she’d been attacked by a man she didn’t know. She then refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Weeks later, though, the woman’s domestic violence advocate told police the woman was willing to discuss the incident. She then told police Reed beat her after an argument.

Writing the court, Gendreau said the woman claimed she initially lied to police out of fear of Reed.

Having abused the woman when they dated in the early 1980s, Reed continued to do so after they got back together, Gendreau told the court.

In June and again on Oct. 3, Des Moines police were called to the home following violent arguments there, the detective told the court. On the second occasion – which came a month after the Sept. 5 attack that saw the woman hospitalized – Reed was booked into King County Jail, where he remains.

Reed has been charged with first-degree assault. Prosecutors contend the crime was an act of domestic violence.